Gower 1st’s took on Ultramarine for the third time in 3 months on Sunday – having won one, and drawn one against them.
We lined up with a new 3-4-3 formation to try out. With Chittenden, Ossack and Glyn at the back, Duggan left, Mitchell, Street and Durrant in midfield, Klinger in the hole with Kelly and Medley (back from injury) upfront.
Predictably Gowers dictated the pace of the game, nullifying Ultras midfield play. Whilst none of the team felt particularly comfortable with the formation, they still dominated throughout, with some good work in both channels from Duggan and Durrant.
This led to several exciting first half chances, with Kelly, Klinger and Medley all having early strikes at goal – but predictably enough none of them were on target.
The greatest chance of the first half, came from a Glyn free-kick on half-way which was classily “punted” forward, over the full-backs head, into the area which Medley walloped against the post, it then re-bounded to Klinger who from 12 yards, walloped the ball onto the cross-bar.
Chance missed.
Gowers continued to plug away with Mitchell and Street becoming steadily more involved in the game, winning their battles against their opposite numbers, and spreading the ball well across the pitch.
The deserved breakthrough came when Medley dropped very deep to pick up the ball, just inside Ultras half. He caught the run of Kelly running in behind the full-back and centre-back, and pinged a A1 pass over the defence to find Kelly one-on-one with the keeper at an angle, and finally Kelly chipped the keeper which bounced into the roof of the net
1-0.
Second half, we continued to feel somewhat uncomfortable with the unfamiliar 3-4-3 formation and there was no need to chase a goal – so we made substitutions on 55 mins of Gladstone and Howard for Duggan and Klinger, and reverted to 4-4-2.
This settled us down enormously, and within 5 minutes, Howard intercepted a potentially dangerous through-ball and his “quick thinking” pass right through the middle of the two centre-backs set Medley free down the middle – to give him a simple one-on-one with keeper – which he slotted away perfectly near-post.
2-0
Once we had the all important 2-0 buffer, Gowers could start playing some free-flowing football.
Durrant down the right was a constant threat going forward and his tackling in defence was superb too – and the Gowers were all delighted to see him rocking and rolling like he was last season. And his shooting……well nuff said.
Medley too was combining excellently with Kelly upfront – reading each others runs and playing each other “in”, to perfection several times. I recall 2 or 3 further one-on-one opportunities only for our shooting to let us down again.
And it was Street yet again who was the driving force behind the Gowers momentum. Constant badgering and hounding of his opponents broke up the attacks of Ultras, and turned defence into attack.
2-0 it finished.
Credit to the Gowers defence – as Dan O Hagan in goal on had to make one save all game long.
The team as a whole were awesome on the day – and far too strong for ultramarines – every one of you. Well done.
This tees us up nicely for our huge game against Crown & Goose next week. Bring it on!
MOTM = very close call between Durrant, Street and Medley – but im going with Medley because it was his first game in a month after an ankle injury, and his movement, control, passing and finishing were all top quality. His contribution to the team should not be underestimated. Well played Timbo.
